Masco Corp. Adj. EPS Increases 36%

(RTTNews) - Masco Corp. (MAS) Tuesday announced a 36 percent increase in second quarter adjusted earnings per share to $0.38. Operating profit was up 22 percent at $280 million. Income from continuing operations was $.38 per common share compared to $.28 per share and on a reported basis, it came in at $0.31 per share. In the prior second quarter, the company has reported $139 million or $0.39 per share.

On average, 13 analysts polled by Thomson Reuters expected the company to earn $0.36 per share. Analysts estimates usually exclude special items.

Net sales for the quarter increased three percent to $1.9 billion, while excluding the effects of foreign currency translation was up seven percent from the previous year. For the previous year, the company has reported net sales of $2.26 billion. Wall Street analysts were looking for $2.22 billion.

Further, the company said it plans to increase annual dividend by $0.02 per share to $0.38 by the fourth quarter of 2015.